1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vacuum valve for a vacuum container of the type in which vacuumization is accomplished by pressing a lid of the vacuum container using the palm of the hand, and more particularly, to a vacuum valve which is installed inward of a closure member provided to a lid, in such a way as to reliably vacuumize a vacuum container and, at the same time, is capable of serving as a vacuum indicator for allowing a user to easily confirm a vacuumized state of the vacuum container with the naked eye.
2. Description of the Related Art
A vacuum container has a container body and a lid. The lid is defined with an air hole. The vacuum container is provided with a vacuum valve. The vacuum valve controls opening and closing of the air hole and in this way, performs a function of removing air existing in the vacuum container to allow a food item stored in the vacuum container to be kept for an extended period of time while not being deteriorated in its freshness. Generally, vacuum containers are divided into a first type of using a vacuum pump and a second type in which vacuumization is accomplished by pressing a lid of a vacuum container using the palm of the hand (hereinafter, referred to as a xe2x80x9clid pressing typexe2x80x9d).
In the lid pressing type vacuum container, a boss is formed on the lid, and an air hole is defined through the boss. The vacuum valve has a valving element to be brought into contact with an upper end surface of the boss and thereby control opening and closing of the air hole. The conventional vacuum valve has a drawback in that, since the boss and valving element has a narrow contact width, if the valving element is not precisely assembled or surface unevenness is caused in the valving element due to use over lengthy periods, it is difficult to reliably maintain the vacuum container under a vacuumized state. Further, because the conventional vacuum valve is positioned below a closure member and has the valving element which controls opening and closing of the air hole, it can only perform its original function and cannot serve as a vacuum indicator for allowing a user to easily confirm a vacuumized state of the vacuum container with the naked eye.
These days, in order to maintain a vacuumized state for an extended period of time, as shown in FIG. 7, an airtightening element 130 has been disclosed in the art. The airtightening element 130 is fitted around a boss which defines an air hole. Nevertheless, in this type of conventional vacuum valve, due to the fact that an upper end 130a of the airtightening element 130 possessing a hollow circular cylinder-shaped configuration has the same thickness as the other portions, if the airtightening element 130 is not precisely coupled to the boss, the upper end 130a of the airtightening element 130 cannot be flushed with an upper end of the boss. Therefore, the possibility of a gap to be created between a valving element and the airtightening element 130 is increased. For this reason, a problem is caused in that it is difficult to effectively and reliably maintain the inside of the vacuum container under a vacuumized state.
Also, in the case that a vacuum indicator is installed, separately from the vacuum valve, on a side of a container lid with an aim of allowing a user to confirm a vacuumized state of the vacuum container, as the number of component parts is increased and an assembling time is lengthened, a manufacturing cost is increased. In particular, since the vacuum valve and the vacuum indicator are positioned separately from each other, it is bothersome to confirm a vacuumized state of the vacuum container. Due to this fact, after a food item is received in a container body, the vacuum container is unlikely to be vacuumized.
Accordingly, the present invention has been made in an effort to solve the problems occurring in the related art, and an object of the present invention is to provide a combined vacuum valve and vacuum indicator which can effectively and reliably maintain the inside of a vacuum container under a vacuumized state for an extended period of time, and at the same time, employing a simple structure, allows a user to easily confirm the vacuumized state of the vacuum container with the naked eye.
In order to achieve the above object, according to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a vacuum valve including a lid for closing a container body which is opened at an upper end thereof to receive a food item, a depression defined on the lid, a boss formed on the lid at a bottom of the depression and defined with an air hole for communicating the outside and the inside of the container body, a rotary cover rotatably arranged in the depression and having an accommodating space, and a closure member detachably coupled to the rotary cover in such a way as to close the accommodating space, the vacuum valve comprising: a through-hole defined at a center portion of the closure member; a vacuum maintaining member accommodated in the accommodating space and having an airtightening flange part and a semi-spherical head part, the airtightening flange part being brought into close contact with a portion of the rotary cover which defines the bottom of the accommodating space, and the semi-spherical head part projecting upward from the airtightening flange part in a rounded manner such that, as the lid of the vacuum container is repeatedly pressed and released, air existing in the container body is discharged to the outside and vacuumization is effected in the vacuum container; and an exposure bar extending upward from the semi-spherical head part by a predetermined length such that the exposure bar can be moved upward and downward through the through-hole of the closure member depending upon a vacuumization degree to allow a user to confirm a vacuumized state of the vacuum container with the naked eye.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a vacuum valve including a lid for closing a container body which is opened at an upper end thereof to receive a food item, a depression defined on the lid, a boss formed on the lid at a bottom of the depression and defined with an air hole for communicating the outside and the inside of the container body, a rotary cover rotatably arranged in the depression and having an accommodating space, and a closure member detachably coupled to the rotary cover in such a way as to close the accommodating space, the vacuum valve comprising: a through-hole defined at a center portion of the closure member; and a vacuum maintaining member accommodated in the accommodating space and having an airtightening flange part and a head part, the airtightening flange part being brought into close contact with a portion of the rotary cover which defines the bottom of the accommodating space and having an inner diameter greater than a diameter of the boss, the head part having a lower half and an upper half which are connected integrally with each other along a folding line, the lower half connected to a radial inner end of the airtightening flange part and having substantially a truncated and inverted cone-shaped configuration, and the upper half having a cone-shaped configuration so that a vertex of the upper half can be moved upward and downward through the through-hole of the closure member depending upon a vacuumization degree to allow a user to confirm a vacuumized state of the vacuum container with the naked eye.
According to a further aspect of the present invention, there is provided a vacuum valve including a lid for closing a container body which is opened at an upper end thereof to receive a food item, a depression defined on the lid, a boss formed on the lid at a bottom of the depression and defined with an air hole for communicating the outside and the inside of the container body, a rotary cover rotatably arranged in the depression and having an accommodating space, and a closure member detachably coupled to the rotary cover in such a way as to close the accommodating space, the vacuum valve comprising: a through-hole defined at a center portion of the closure member; an airtightening element having a hollow body part fitted around the boss and a lip part extending in a radial direction at least partially from the hollow body part; a vacuum maintaining member accommodated in the accommodating space and having an airtightening flange part and a semi-spherical head part, the airtightening flange part being formed to be brought into contact with the lip part of the airtightening element, and the semi-spherical head part projecting upward from the airtightening flange part in a rounded manner such that, as the lid of the vacuum container is repeatedly pressed and released, air existing in the container body is discharged to the outside and vacuumization is effected in the vacuum container; and an exposure bar extending upward from the semi-spherical head part by a predetermined length such that the exposure bar can be moved upward and downward through the through-hole of the closure member depending upon a vacuumization degree to allow a user to confirm a vacuumized state of the vacuum container with the naked eye.
According to still another aspect of the present invention, in an operating position of the vacuum valve in which the container body is vacuumized, the airtightening flange part of the vacuum maintaining member is brought into airtight contact with the airtightening element and the exposure bar is moved downward; and in a non-operating position of the vacuum valve in which the container body is not vacuumized, the airtightening flange part of the vacuum maintaining member is separated from the airtightening element and the exposure bar is moved upward.
According to yet still another aspect of the present invention, the body part of the airtightening element is formed at least partially to have a tubular configuration.